A SUICIDE bomber and a gunman killed at least 29 people and wounded 63 at a packed Shiite mosque in Afghanistan’s main western city of Herat on Tuesday, the latest attack to highlight the country’s deteriorating security situation.

The assault on the Jawadya mosque in Herat, which is close to Afghanistan’s border with Iran, came a day after the Islamic State group claimed a deadly attack on the Iraqi embassy in Kabul.

The Herat attack was the latest in a series of assaults on Afghanistan’s minority Shiite population.

“The death toll has risen to 29 killed and 63 wounded. Some wounded are in a critical condition so the toll may go up,” hospital spokesman Rafeeq Shirzai said.

Herat police spokesman Abdul Ahad Walizada said the assault happened around 8 p.m. when “a terrorist attack was carried out on a (Shiite) mosque in the third security district of Herat city.”

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but IS has been targeting Shiite minority crowds and mosques in Afghanistan for around a year. The Taliban specifically denied that it was involved.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle filled with explosives into a convoy of foreign forces yesterday in Afghanistan’s southern province of Kandahar, officials said.

NATO confirmed in a statement that the convoy was attacked and did “cause casualties.”(SD-Agencies)